3. Place—To be a good manager of your career, you have to understand not only your own job and the organization, but also the whole broader world of work—what’s happening in your profession and the industry. Part of that is looking for changes in the workplace and your profession and does the industry require changes in your skill-set and position.

4. Possibility—You need to get a fix on the different ways you can move within the organization and outside it—the benefits of moving laterally versus moving up, how to accomplish moving vertically if that’s what you want to do, how can you enrich yourself. Or, if you decide that leaving is the best option, where you might go. Ideally you’d like to have several possibilities.

5. Plan—If you don’t have one, all of the previous ideas aren’t worth much. You need a blueprint for how to develop those new abilities, skills and competencies that help you move toward your goals.